NEOlithic MEDiterranean diet through stable ISotope analysis

Project Information

NEOMEDIS

Grant agreement ID: 792130

DOI

10.3030/792130

Project closed

EC signature date 27 February 2018

Start date 31 January 2019

End date 28 June 2021

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 195 454,80

EU contribution

€ 195 454,80

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITY OF YORK
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - NEOMEDIS (NEOlithic MEDiterranean diet through stable ISotope analysis)

Reporting period: 2019-01-31 to 2021-01-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

During the 6th millennium BC a series of events occurred along the North Western Mediterranean coastlines that transformed society and had far-reaching effects on human demography, health, social organisation and ideology: the arrival of farming.
The degree to which these first farmers were culturally influenced and genetically admixed with indigenous hunter-gatherers is still unresolved. This question mirrors a long-standing debate regarding the origins of farming that is now beginning to be addressed through the application of new biomolecular analysis of skeletal remains, such as DNA and stable isotope analysis.
Stable isotope analysis of skeletal remains has been used in this project to determine the diet and to address the question regarding the degree to which the early farmers (Early Neolithic) groups relied on food production (i.e. agriculture and pastoralism) as opposed to wild resources (gathered, hunted and fished foods). Essentially, diets of ancient individuals can be estimated by measuring stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) present in bone protein (collagen) extracted from their skeletal tissues and comparing these with measurements from potential foodstuffs. For coastal populations this approach is particularly appealing since marine organisms generally have very distinctive isotopic signatures compared to terrestrial resources, allowing generic discriminations.
New analytical tools through compound specific isotope analysis (CSIA) have also been used in this project to significantly increase the resolution of isotopic analysis from bulk collagen to the amino acids (AA) that make up collagen, which can be traced to individual dietary components with much more certainty. To enhance the identification of marine and terrestrial consumers, NEOMEDIS also deployed measurements of sulphur isotopes (34S/32S) in human and fauna bulk collagen samples. These results, in conjunction with those from CSIA, will shed more light on all the questions about the Neolithisation in the Mediterranean basin.
The overarching aims of the NEOMEDIS project were to i) produce population level, in depth, uniquely detailed dietary reconstructions of Neolithic humans in the western Mediterranean (Spain, France and Italy) that will serve as guidelines for future dietary reconstructions; ii) address fundamental questions related to the early use of marine resources in this region in order to validate the hypotheses outlined above; and iii) establish the fellow at the forefront of the field increasing her opportunities for future career as an experienced researcher. The project has fully achieved most of its objectives and milestones for the period, with some deviations that increased the impact of the project.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Previously to apply the analytical procedure for the NEOMEDIS project, it had been essential an initial assessment and a protocol optimisation of the CSIA-AA method (WP1) had been required as it constitutes one of the methodologies to build high-resolution palaeodietary reconstructions. CSIA-AA is a quite new methodology in archaeology and required some adjustments depending on the samples quality.
The appropriate material had been sampled to extract collagen for the isotopical analysis and selected to produce a complete CSIA-AA database (WP2). A complete control of what had to be analysed was essential due to the complexity of the methodology and the expensive analysis.
Measurements of fauna and plant baselines (WP3) had been carried out to create a correct baseline of faunal and plant remains to increase the study robusticity of the study with a reliable comparison of the values of the environment during the period of study.
The other robust baseline analysed, the Sulphur isotope analysis (δ34S) (WF4), offered to the study a robust baseline for marine resources adding more sensitivity and reliability when compared to the bulk isotope data (δ13C and δ15N) and δ13C and δ15N CSIA-AA data.
The WF5 was oriented to analyse the Neolithic human diet to obtain the results that helps us answer the objectives of the project. The stable isotope analysis of bone collagen is one of the most reliable tools to obtain population level, in depth, uniquely detailed dietary reconstructions. The inclusion of CSIA-AA and δ34S, not only complements the dietary reconstruction, but highly increases its resolution. After the deviations due to Covid-19, these analysis offered us a complete view not only of the importance of the marine diet to the first farmers, but also how the diet evolved over time in NE Iberia. To implement the interpretation of the results, NEOMEDIS integrated the results of the different stated methodologies using Bayesian mixing models (WF6).
These models offered us an estimation of the dietary contributions (e.g. marine protein, terrestrial carbohydrate, etc.) to finally have a complete view of the diet of the populations under study, and the socio-economic transformations occurred during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition, the onset of farming, and the subsequent development of the farming strategies till the Late Neolithic-Chalcolithic.
The project included and ambitious strategy of dissemination both for academic and non-academic audiences (WF7). The NEOMEDIS results have been disseminated in academic context through different communications: in conferences (ENE2019, Current Approaches to Farming and Food Practices during Late Prehistory 2019, VII Congreso Internacional de Neolítico en la Península Ibérica 2020 [where the IF acted as organiser and chair of the session]); invited talks in United Kingdom, Italy and Spain. Publications on stable isotope analysis of the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic people in the NE Iberia are currently on preparation. The NEOMEDIS investigation has also been disseminated to a broader public through an interview for a national newspaper (Dirari Ara) and a radio interview (Radio Maricel), both in Spain and collaborated to disseminate cutting-edge science for non-academic audiences being part of the project "Raval és Ciència".

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

NEOMEDIS expanded the application of isotopic studies applying different methodologies to obtain high resolution palaeodietary reconstructions of the Mesolithic and Neolithic sites of NE Iberian Peninsula. The combination of δ13C, δ15N and δ34S SIA; δ13C, δ15N CSIA-AA and Bayesian Mixing models, offer a deep insight of the subsistence strategies followed by the last hunter-gatherers and the first farmers of this Mediterranean region. The high-resolution palaeodietary reconstructions performed during the NEOMEDIS project will contribute to the debates about the use of marine resources in these prehistoric periods and will offer more light about their socio-economic trends. Likewise, NEOMEDIS has contributed to build up a network focused on the socio-economic transformations occurred during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the Mediterranean region, which join different researchers and institutions all along the region and consolidated long-term collaborations.

Figure 1. Website (home page)

Figure 2. GC-C-IRMS facilities at BioArCh